Chicago artist Theaster Gates has been on a winning streak for a while now, and he’s making the most of it in a way that, I hope, turns out also to be a good thing for Chicago.
Showing his entrepreneurial side, Gates is now trying to turn an abandoned bank building in his home city into a cultural hub. He gets a gold star from me right from the start for wanting to reuse a  historic building. Located on Chicago’s South Side, at East 68th Street and South Stony Island Avenue, the Greek-style edifice was set for demolition until Gates decided that it would make a good place for an art space and library. Now it’s his project, with a $5 million price tag, for renovation and renewal.
As he told the Chicago Tribune last week,
I’ve always felt like it’s important that artists be good citizens. Citizenship for me includes thinking hard about the cultural life of the place that I live in. No matter what my resources have been, I’ve always tried to make culture happen.
His vision for the building includes a “soul food pavilion,” artists’ studios, offices, and a room housing the books by black authors from the collection of John H. Johnson, the founder of Ebony and Jet magazines, some of which would also be available.
Asa the bank, empty since the ’80s, the paper said, is cleaned out, Gates gets raw material — “some of [the bank’s] debris, once destined for a landfill, would make its way into Gates’ coveted pieces of contemporary art,” the Tribune piece said.
Of course, Gates needs help — approval of his plan and some public financing — $1 million of the total. He and other investors will put in $3.5 million, the Trib says, while donors provide $500,000 and a bank loan covers the rest.
If other artists were trying this, it might have slim chances. But Gates has had a few other success with housing and arts projects — he seems to have a good chance at this.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Chicago Magazine